The great escape
by RipJawWolfFang
Summary: Matt and mellos story as they run away together! Action, adventure, yaoi eventually.
1. The wammys escape

_(a roll play between me and my friend ThatJeevasFanChick turned into story format XD it should be very very angsty and interesting later on! We would love To hear your ideas!)_

Matt sat ever patiently in his room, waiting for mello to come back. Roger had called him away for some reason. But why? Matt had a feeling it had something to do with L.

When Mello walked into the room Matt's eyes followed him. He could tell mello was upset, and not just his usual mello upset. "what's happened?"

It couldn't be! There was no way! It can't be true! The fiery blond was telling himself over again. The old bastard was never one for lying and that fact alone made this pill harder to swallow. Kira killed him! Kira killed his idol, his hero! He stormed down the hallways, purpose in every step. He would bring Kira down! He would be the next L!

"L's dead! He's gone! Kira killed him, I know it!" He threw his books off the desk, needing to vent.

"L... " Matt's voice dropped to a disbelieving whisper. "No way! He can't be dead!"

"Roger doesn't lie... Watari's dead too, he killed them both! He punched the desk and threw another book, nearly missing his friend.

Matt ducked thinking for a moment. "s-so who's l then?"

"He didn't pick yet," grumbled the blond, snapping into a chocolat bar angrily.

"Roger had the audacity, the damn nerve to think I could work with that runt! I'd rather be dead than co-operating with that midget!"

"he isn't that short..." Matt mumbled and shook his head slowly, "what are we going to do then? Wouldn't it be better just to work with near then slip the title out from under his feet when Kira is dead?"

"Near doesn't work that way... He's gonna wait and let countless others die before he acts. Kira is going down, and he's going down hard!" He went on all fours and dug under his bed, fetching a ruck sack and pulling his jacket from the coat rack.

"what are you doing mells?" Matts brows furrowed, he already knew what his friend was doing, he just didn't want to believe it.

"It doesn't take half a brain cell to see what's going on, Matty..." He went on all fours again and pulled out Matt's duffle bag. "Fill it. We're getting out of here and we're not coming back."

Matt knew better then to argue and quickly grabbed his sleeping bag, his game boy, cloths and his stuffed dog, along with a photo of his mum and a few bags of Cheetos. "why though?"

"Because, Matt, we're going to catch us a serial killer and we're going to do it better than that little shithead..." He packed clothes, chocolate bars and their passports, leaving room for another thing that he'd use Matt for.

"Are you done? Let's go."

"alright... I suppose." matt lifted the bag over his shoulders. "what about money though? I mean... We won't last long without money... They'll drag us home again if they catch us on the street."

Mello only grinned mischievously.

"I've thought way ahead of you. You're going to break into Watari's vault and take anything of monetary value. I have space in my bag for it. I'll stand lookout and you just work as fast as you can."

"w-what! Me!" Matt ran up alongside his friend. "I can't steal from the old man mells! It's not right!"

"Kira killing him was not right either, but that didn't stop him. I hate Kira, but we need the funds, Matt... we need them more right now."

Matt frowned. "fine... Just... Just a few hundred dollars though!" l had lots of money after all, it's not like they couldn't replace a few hundred dollars quickly anyway.

"We need enough for a trip to my homeland. Kira is not going to suspect activity there anytime soon. We can earn funds there on our own." He led his friend to the late gentleman's office and stood guard.

"Hurry up then, we can't let anyone see us here."

Matt scooted inside and started punching in numbers on the safes keypad, quickly finding the right combination and slipping inside. He snatched up a pile of cash and quickly ran back put, feeling horrible about the whole thing. "this is a bad idea mells!" he didn't know how much he snatched, but it wasent as much as it looked. It was hard to tell, the notes wernt as organized as Matt expected and it was dark. He ended up only grabbing $3900 which would cover there tickets sure enough but not much else.

"Let's get Abby before we go. I'm not leaving without her." He pulled his friend along, stuffing the bills into his ruck sack and closing it. He went to the one other person that he had let Abby visit, and that was Linda. He knocked on her door then banged on it once.

"hey?" Linda rubbed her eyes as she opened the door, mellos dog bounding out from in between her legs. "what's going on?"

"I'm leaving... Near won the successorship... I have no reason to be here anymore." He picked up his already large pup and carried her.

"I need her carrier, leash and food please."

"err... Yeah but your going to get in trouble." Linda quickly gathered everything up and put it inside the box. Handing it over to Matt. "you cant just run away? Where will you go?"

"Where does it matter? I don't have any reason to stay anymore." He turned heel and began the trip outdoors, excited for the prospect of this new hunt and new victory over that little runt!


	2. Getting on a plane

Matt trailed behind, already tired after just a few blocks. 'It was summer at least.' Matt told himself. Trying to be cheerful about it. "where are we going? La? I thought you hated it there?"

"That's Chicago, Matty. I was born and neglected there. LA is on the other side. Higher population means less of a chance being found." Mello was relying on memory and his internal radar to guide him to where he needed to go.

"where gonna freeze to death when winter comes!" the boy protested quietly, "or get robbed before then! "

"Not if we keep our wits about us. We're genuis teenagers aged 14 and 12. You're great with creating things from scratch. I'm good with negotiating and getting my way. It should be alright. Expect the unexpected Matty, always expect the unexpected." He saw a familiar stretch of road that would go to the airport, but knew they would need to charge up early and leave earlier if they were to make it.

"We have to call it in early Matt. We are leaving before the sunrise to head to the airport."

Matt looked at the bare stretch of road. "we can't sleep here! We'll be caught for sure!"

"We'll sleep in the city tonight, but no rooms. We eat what we can, sleep and head that way before sunrise, that way, when we arrive, we'll blend right in." He looked into green orbs and gave a small smile.

"We can do this, Matt. We'll make it over there safely."

"but..." Matt frowned, "where do we sleep?" the boy whispered, "it's still a way from the city mells..." Matt was tired, very tired, he could not bare the thought of walking anymore.

"We're not sleeping in the open, Matty. Just hold on for me. Hold on until we can sleep somewhere that we're not seen." He tugged his friend and looked around for anything close that would fit their needs.

By now Matt was starting to look very pale and sick, his legs where sore from walking so far, and he looked cold. It was getting very cold. Infact it looked like it would rain. "I'm hangin on..."

The blond seen what looked to be a storage unit and tugged Matt faster. He glanced inside, seeing that it would barely hold all of them and acted on breaking inside. He tried 3 times before he opened it and ushered Matt inside before carrying Abby with them and shutting the door.

The redhead sat in the corner looking guilty for a long time before starting to pull out his sleeping bag and unwrap it. "s gonna be real cold mells..."

"We got each other, Matty. We have Abby and we'll be alright." Mello helped with the bag and moved to feed her, digging in the dark and feeding her 4 handfuls before putting everything away.

"Matt... it's not going to be an easy life, but it's for the greater good. When this all blows over, then we can try to have a better life."

Matt slowly nodded and closed his tired eyes for a moment. "I trust you mells..." he whispered. "I'm just real tired."

"Good. Go to sleep." He gave a kiss to Matt's head and let Abby cuddle with him before joining a little later.

Matt curld up in his sleeping bag as the rain started falling heavily on the roof. He hated the cold. The little redhead was always a very sick child, and learned to avoid the cold weather like the plague.

At around 4:30 am, Mello's internal alarm went off and he shook Matt awake.

"Get ready, we're heading out as soon as the sleeping bag is put away." He ate the last of his chocolate from yesterday and took Abby out to relieve herself, which he joined in as well.

Matt groaned. He barely slept thanks to the cold. "it's still raining mells." he rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.

Mello walked back in and shook him harder.

"Wake up! We're gonna be late if we don't get a move on!" He took the bag off and began to hurredly, but neatly put the sleeping bag away.

Matt groaned and got up, looking crappyer then he had the night before but shoving his sleeping bag away anyway. He looked like death warmed over, but matt rarely ever looked like much else in the morning.

"Wear my coat until the rain stops. We should get there before anyone suspects anything." He waited outside with Abby on her leash before they began the lengthy trip to the airport.

Even all rugged up Matt looked like a zombi, he slowed them down without meaning to and it took a whole extra hour to get to the airport. Without Matts skills though mello knew money would not be easy to find and he himself would likely die out there. Matt sat patiently while they loaded Abby up into her case and onto the plane, drinking a hot chocolate mello almost didn't let him buy if it haddent been for his own chocolate addiction. "what if they trace out passports mells?"

"As soon as we land in America, we destroy them. As soon as we get connections and get things moving, I need you to make fake ID's. I can steal supplies, but you need to do your part as well. We're a team now, got it?"

"mells... Your gonna get me in so much trouble..." Matt mumbled more to himself then the blond. If they where caught it would be him with the dirty hands.

"Try putting your brilliant mind towards not worrying, alright? We are gonna bring this killer down and I'm not going to let him win. I'm sure as hell not letting that prick beat me." The PA system announced that their flight was now boarding, prompting Mello to lead his friend to the docking bay.

"i trust you." Matt had been repeating that line since they left, somehow he just knew if he put his faith in the blond everything would work out alright.

On the plane, Mello found their seats and settled in.

"You can sleep now if you want. We'll be here for a while." Taking his own advice, he closes his eyes and takes a much needed sleep.


	3. That first night

Matt sat down stiffly next to his friend. He didn't sleep much at all despite the long flight. The whole thing was just far to stressful on him to let him close his eyes.

Mello woke before the plane landed and saw his friend awake.

"Hey... we're nearly there now. It will be fine. Not easy, but we can thrive here."

Matt only nodded and laid his head down slowly on mellos shoulder. He was scared, that was easy enough to see.

The elder pet hair and gave a head kiss.

"We'll be fine," he assured him, choosing to comfort Matt until they had to leave the plane. He led his friend out, knowing how tired and scared he must be. If only Matt was 13... he would not be so insecure and fearful as he was now.

Mello sighed and looked into an unfamiliar airport. One look outdoors told him that they needed a taxi. A taxi he could not afford.

Matt pulled out the wad of money, sighing. They could not convert the currency, that would get them caught for sure. "what do we do now mells?" some of the shops in the airport would take pounds, but once they left they where broke.

"We buy what we can manage and hope the taxi's here can take non-currency as fare. Other than that, we are going to be on foot for another day..." It was by luck that an older couple overheard them and looked their way, though Mello became suspicious of them, even if they seemed nice.

Matt didn't even see the old couple, though it was no doubt his cute looks that attracted there attention as much as there plight. "someone here that's going to England might trade us?" he knew they would be short changed, but the money was useless to them now anyway.

"I don't doubt it. Let's see who might be in a similar situation." Before he could lead his friend away, the female of the couple stopped them.

"Excuse me," she said in a very American accent.

"Are you boys lost? Are you waiting on your parents or sumthin'?"

"Actually... we are returning from visiting a rich uncle. He gave us 800 Pounds, but we have no way of converting it." Mello seemed to have gained his old American accent back, looking at Matt and winking at him.

Matt just nodded, not even going to try to convince them he was somehow American. He handed over the money to mello quietly.

"Well we certainly can't let a pair of angelic boys leave with no inherritance, can we? Come with us and we can see what we can do for you, darlins'." Mello led Matt and followed the pair over, but were not able to convert the funds in full. They were only allowed $500 maximum. Mello nodded in thanks and let the couple keep the rest.

"Let's get Abby and get a ride out of here."

"where to?" Matt looked out at the already late night sky from the windows as they went to collect there puppy and there luggage. It was going to be cold here to, if not colder. It was the very end of summer and autumn was already about to strike. "is there like... A cheep motel or something?"

"Hopefully, but I doubt we can take Abby with us. I guess I'll have to work my magic then." He wheeled their things outdoors and whistled for a taxi. 3 passed before one stopped and helped move their things inside.

"So where to this time of night?"

"The closest and inexpensive motel this city has."

"cheepest." matt whispered, looking at mello. The cheaper the hotel the more nights they could stay before getting the boot out onto the freezing cold streets.

"Whatever's cheapest," added Mello seamlessly, getting a nod from the driver.

*We need connections, anything with resources and a better means for income... You don't have a lot, Mello, but you got the will to do it.*

"what're we gonna do mells?" Matt whispered, looking at the cab fair as it creeped up. They would not last more then a week on this money.

"I'm thinking, alright?" Income, that was a priority. Shelter, food, security... they were all equal in importance now, but if he could somehow stretch their funds... it would mean losing out on some things, but he had some skill in pick pocketing. He would steal to survive. He would do whatever it took to protect his little family.

"I know but..." Matt paused, letting the puppy lick his fingers through the bars. "but I'm useless until I have a computer mells..." he whispered.

"If I find one and only steal you tools... do you think you can fix it?" he whispered this, seeing the fare already at $11.70 and still climbing.

Matt puffed up his chest proudly for the first time since they left. "don't be silly! I can fix anything!" then the pride quickly failed. "but I would still need a place to... You know... Plug it in... It would just get stolen on the streets... Even in a hotel room..."

"A cheap motel, yes, but not the more expensive ones... better yet, an apartment when we can afford one. I'll get us what we need. Don't worry." He looked again, seeing the fair still climbing from $13.20 before his impatience got the better of him.

"How much further?"

"Another couple blocks and you boys will be resting well." For some reson, Mello didn't like this driver anymore, but his composure remained held.

Despite what the driver said the fair got to $20 before he got to the motel parking lot. Matt was sure they had been lead around the same block a few times, but there was nothing they could do about it.

"will we just... Sneak Abby in?" he whispered, looking at the bored outside with the pricing. It did say they could keep animals there, locked up in there cages at all times, for an extra $10 a night, but that would make there stay $55 a night rather then 45. Though if they got caught they would be fined virtually all the money they had left.

"Let's just get everything out first. I'll do the talking and you keep Abby quiet," he whispered, paying the $20 and going inside to create a lie on the spot.

Matt took everything out of the trunk of the car and the driver sped off. Matt looked out over the dimly lit hotel block and frowned. Wammys was a palace compared to to this place.

Some minutes and $240 later, Mello walked out with keys and joined his friend.

"6 days... he's giving us 6 days for the time being and made our first night cheapest. Come on." He gathered what he could carry and went to the room in question.

The room wasent much warmer then outside but Matt said nothing. All they had was a single bed, a tiny kitchenette and a bathroom. There bedroom at wammys was bigger. He pulled his sleeping bag out and laid it out on the floor, curling up in it with Abby as a pillow. Mello would want the bed after all.

"Matt..." Mello sat on the bed and looked at his friend.

"Sleep with me, please?" It was a crack in his mask. As determined as he was, he needed the company as badly. He didn't want to be alone.

Matt looked up for a long moment, a little shocked. They hadn't slept in bed together for years, not since mello demed it childish. Matt gave a little smile eventually and slowly crawled up into the bed with his friend. Putting his head down on the pillow. There puppy was more then happy to sleep on Matt's sleeping bag after all.

For once, Mello felt at ease since entering this new, yet familiar land. He hugged Matt close and felt confident about this endeavor. He had very limited resources, but that would change, he knew it.

Matt, being as tired as he was, quickly fell asleep. It had been a long time since mello wanted to cuddle him, and Matt had almost forgotten how calming it was.


	4. Stealing a living

The night went without incident and at 5 am, Mello woke up. His internal alarm was never late. He determined that he would wash, then feed Abby before doing anything else. Matt was comfortable though and it was tempting to sleep in, but his mentality forbade it. He got up and did his business before feeding Abby and taking her out, covering Matt with the sleeping bag before he left.

Matt would sleep in as long as you let him, mello was aware of that. Matt was content snorting away until 7.

When the hour came around, Mello shook him awake and removed the sleeping bag to speed the process. They had a job to do today. There was a laptop to be found or stolen, tools and access to more funds to keep them going. Food was needed all around, but Mello was certain they could be quick about it.

"I'm awake I'm awake!" Matt defended and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He could have easily slept another two hours, he just needed more sleep then his friend. "what?"

"We need to get food and supplies today Matt. There is no dodging the fact we need money as well, so we need to get that too in cash form. Keep sharp today. I'm not staying out of sight. I expect you to be the same."

Matt groaned and got up out of bed, sighing and putting on new cloths. "get me a computer and a phone line or an ATM with no security and I'll get money. "

"That's the spirit!" Mello waited for his friend, removing a chocolate bar and unwrapping it and sucking on a corner.

"If you gotta use the loo, use it now, cause I think I know of a good location from my walk with Abby earlier."

"no cameras?" Matt was bread with ls camera phobia, and for good reason, with Kira out there of there branded little theifs they could be dead before they start.

"Yeah. We're not in a particularly busy part of the city, but we will not come back empty handed. Los Angeles is known for being wealthy in legitimate and dirty ways." He looked out, making sure no one was coming and opened the door.

"Come on then."

Matt followed his friend out slowly, he looked generally unwell, but that was just nerves. The more confident mello was the better the little redhead would cope.

Mello led Matt carefully along his chosen route, keeping him in arm's length at all times. The place in question was a small park area with a few stores and had a small group of shady looking people moving through.

"This will be our first spot until they catch onto us. I'll scout out further locations when I can. Just stay calm and do as I do." He looked behind to check on Matt and using dexterity, he snatched a wallet from a passerby and strolled casually before sitting on a bench nearby.

"mells!" Matt hissed softly, "what if he needed that money?" Matt would much rather steal off an ATM, a faceless machine he could distance himself from. They where insured so it was a victimless crime. Well, not for the insurance company.

"We need it more," countered the blond, "and besides, until I find an ATM, this is all we can do." He opened the wallet, seeing a debit card, photos and $40 in cash. He took the cash and left the wallet before repeating the process 3 times over.

Matt pulled up his goggles and and shuffled along behind. "let's go... We've got enough... Let's just get some breakfast... Lunch... Whatever..."

The blond led the way, seeking out another place that would have food. One of the stores had electronics, a place he would have to raid from once.

"hey there's a macas!" Matt's grinned widely. They could get a cheese burger, and then maybe the Boys stomach would stop roaring.

"Alright. Get yourself something and come back out. I'll go in while you watch Abby." He removed $15 and handed it over, leaving them with $60 left. Mello was mentally budgeting everything. They would need Asian noodles; they generally were cheap and would last longer.

Matt took the money and marched up to the counter, getting himself three cheese burgers and marching back out. It was on the way back out that matt got the first taste of being robbed himself, someone else pick pocketing him before he left the store. "h-hey! That's mine!" he yelled as the thief made a run for it.

"Let him go, it's too late now... the chickenshit..." Mello glared at the thief and looked back.

"I'll get a burger back for you, just watch Abby and stay sharp, alright?" He handed the leash over, getting 3 burgers and fries before exiting, staying wary.

Matts stomach was growling so loudly the dog was giving him funny looks.

"stop it Abby!" he whined, "I can't help it!"

After exiting, Mello handed over the burger and took the leash.

"Let's head back. We should recharge before we do anything else."

Matt wasent listening from the second the food was handed to him. He ripped open the wrapper and shoved the entire thing in his mouth bite by huge bite. It almost looked like he would choke on the damn thing.

"Take it easy! It's not the end of the world..." Mello continued to lead them back, wary of the owner that he knew could spot them. When it seemed all was clear, Mello pulled his friend inside their room and locked the door. They now had $265 to their name. Not bad for now.

"can I have some chips?" Matt looked pleadingly, though it was clear to mello Matt would put the entire packet into his mouth and it would be gone before he could blink. Matt just needed more food then mello, and seemed to have the need to get it all into his body in one bite.

"Here." He gave three quarters to his friend and the rest to Abby, who wolfed it all down just as quickly.

"You can have another burger," he said, handing his friend another one before starting on his own slowly. Asian noodles all the way from now on.

Matt inhailed the second just as fast as the first, he was so hungry he could go anouther, but he wouldent tell mello that.

When his was done, he mentally noted the time. He needed to break in that electronics store, but it was too soon to move. Time was short though, with only 5 days left, there was little time.

"what now?" Matt tossed away the wrapper and looked up at mello. "where to next?"

"I'm going to scout out any ATM locations. There is an electronis store, but it's not wise to act now. I want you to stay in here until I get back. I know chocolate isn't your thing, but I have a couple bars in my bag. You can have those if I take too long." He stood up and went to the door.

"I promise I will not be too long."

"take Abby..." Matt looked worried, "don't go alone mells." the electronics store was sure to be filled with cameras, that was the big problem. Matt could probably scramble there alarms, but there cameras where a different matter all-together.

"Alright, but do not leave here under any circumstances. You got that?" He took Abby and left, knocking on the door once as an attempt to signal Matt to lock the door.

Matt got the message and slid the latch shut. Soon l lay back on his friend bed. This was going to be a long hard time for them.

It took 3 hours of scouting before Mello returned. He planned ahead wisely and stole an extra large pizza, mostly for his friend and buying 2 chocolate bars for himself.

"oh hey!" Matt's grin widened when he let mello in and smelt the pizza. "food! Here I was thinking we would live like church mice!"

"We're lucky we're not. We're barely getting by as it is. We have limited sources." He moved to the bed and sat down, opening the box and motioning to it.

Matt dug in like a wild animal once more. "well I'll just starve to death then well be fine!"

"Not happening, so don't be a baby about it!" He rolled his eyes and sat on the floor to give Abby loving attention, muffling her when she went to bark.

"you know... You would have to feed less people if you offed me." Matt snorted a laugh. "or you could feed me to Abby!"

"With your metabolism, Abby wouldn't have a meal," he teased back, rubbing Abby's belly.

"I'm nice n fat now!" Matt chirped. "quick before I get all skinny!"

"Not happening, Matty," he said with a smile. He turned serious and looked at his friend.

"I found one ATM with perhaps very minimal security, traffic there is lowest about this time, but we can go there tomorrow morning, do a raid, hang back till evening and make our move."

"cameras?" Matt looked up at mello with curious eyes. "or are you going to take them out somehow?"

"I didn't see any cameras, but that just means we need to work quickly and under disguise." Mello looked at the ground in thought before Abby started whining in hunger and thirst.

"I'll take care of you before I do anything else."

"there's plenty of Pizza..." Matt frowned and chucked her a slice, putting the rest in the fridge. "if we steal enough to buy a cheep laptop we won't have to worry about security at the electronics store..."

"We have $265, which will get us one, but we would not be able to afford anything else. I say we see wait until our time is up here and use it to steal what we can. Save as much as humanly possible and get a laptop. If we have enough for another few days, we can do that, but in that time, I want you to do everything you can to fix it up and get us funding. That will take us to bigger places and grant us more resources."

"Yeah, and we'll have to work very hard. We're stealing to survive, but we have to do what we can. We'll pull through and get to better things sooner or later." He pulled Matt's head to join his and looked into green orbs blocked by goggles.

"Don't give up. I'm not giving up. We can do this together, alright?"

"never! I promise!" Matt smiled back slowly after a moment, "we'll take care of each other!"

"Good. I would like my best friend and brother with me on this. I don't want to do this alone. You're here with me and you're my wingman now, alright?"

Matt nodded and pulled down his goggles so mello could see his deep green eyes better. "all the way mells. You know that!"

"Great!" Mello felt a lot more confident now. He felt they could move mountains if they so willed it.

"your gonna have to feed me though mells!" Matt teased, "ya know I'll be smaller then near if you dont!"

"I'd buy you a buffet if I can, and you know that I will," said Mello with a grin. He parted and lay down on the bed.


	5. Mellos sick

-5 days later-

Mello was depressed. No, he was more than depressed. They had lost all their money and a couple of their clothes to the shady people who lived here with them. On top of which, they were kicked out by the owner for finally seeing that Abby was living there and being unaccounted for. It was a worst case scenario. They had only just started used the laptop they bought and that too was gone.

"well be okay mells." matt petted his friends shoulder. "really we only need enough to eat." the redhead sat on a box in the ally, already feeling the autem cold bite at his body. Matt was already losing weight. He thought mello didn't notice, but it was hard not to when they curled up of a night.

"It's not okay, alright? Not right now, it's not okay... We were just getting things on course and we were gonna be out of here in a better place, but we took too long and those other people broke in on us and took what we had. We have to start from scratch and we have to go somewhere else... Damn it! Damn it!"

"where alive though, so we can do that!" Matt reminded, "and we have $24. If where smart about it we can go get some tarps and cheep blankets and rug up real good, we can make it, plenty of homeless people do."

"We'll get what we need and start fresh when we're settled." Mello looked at the end of the alleyway and frowned. This was a buggerfuck of a situation they were in.

"lets just grab a heap of warm stuff and then get ready to sleep." Matt was hungry, really hungry, but he dared not ask for food just now.

"Yeah. We start again tomorrow. We wake early, we raid for a few hours, buy essentials and repeat every day until we have what we need."

Matt hated the sound of that idea, and really didn't want to be apart of it, but what choice did he have? "okay..."

"We're a team, alright? It's not going to be fun, and it's not supposed to be, but the last thing we want to do is kill someone. That's what we want to avoid at all times."

"like I could anyways..." Matt frowned, "I'm tired..."

"I know. This will test us, but if we pull through, we'll be like kings soon enough." He knew they needed something to put their sleeping bag on, and so sought out anyplace that might sell the needed to them.

Matt dragged himself all the way to a local cheep store, his legs aching from the effort and the cold. "hey look! Waterproof blankets!" Matt smiled "$9.95! We can stick those under out sleeping bags! And one over us so we don't get wet!" the redhead could see the storm clouds forming.

"Sounds like a good idea, Matty. Let's get them and find some place that is covered enough, alright?" He smiled and pulled 2 off. This would leave them flat broke, but they could make up for it tomorrow.

With Matt looking as small and skinny as he was it was hard to picture them missing another meal, still the little redhead would never complain. "abby will keep us warm right?"

"Of course she will. She needs the company as much as we do." He carried their new itms and paid for them, ignoring the odd looks they got before going back out and taking Abby, seeking out a suitable location to sleep in the alleys.

The blankets where thin and cheep, but they where waterproof which was the main thing after all. "here's good?" the redhead gestured to a little ally, the roofs of the serounding buildings would protect them and there stolen pillows and new blankets would keep them relatively warm.

"I don't see an issue," said Mello after doing a thorough scan of the area.

"We have a sleeping bag, pillows and new waterproofs, so I think we can manage." He removed on and lay it on the ground before letting Matt set the bag down. He fixed the bottom shet before adding the top one and fixed it.

"Let's get some sleep, alright?"

Matt frowned as the rain started "wanna zip our bags together?" he asked quietly. "so we can share the heat?"

Mello ponders before nodding, doing an adjustment so that they now shared a space. He crawled inside and motioned Matt in, hugging Abby and allowing her inside with them.

Matt crawled in and huddled up close, mello again could feel his deteriorating physical condition.

Matt's metabolism determined that he had to be fed consistently. It worried him and for half the night, he thought of losing Matt to hunger. It was the same time that he began to start shaking and groaning lightly.

"hey mells?"Matt rolled over and shook his friend lightly, "you alright?" it was impossible to tell in the low light if his friends epilepsy or just fear and cold making him shudder.

Mello shuddered and his head moved at an odd angle before he began to thrash.

Matt grabbed mellos head and stilled it, letting the boy thrash. "shh... Your alright..."

The young boy convulsed and thrashed some more before he went still, shaking and panting heavily. Blue eyes were unfocused as he looked around himself; he was completely disoriented from the experience.

Matt pulled mello in a little closer, ignoring the bruises the blond gave him from his pained thrashing. "you okay?"

"I... I think so..." he said while panting. Abby was licking his cheek worriedly.

"I wasn't... expecting that..."

"neither was I..." Matt rubbed his friends back and his own bruised stomach at the same time. "least you didn't... Ya know..." he sighed, it wouldn't be the first time mello eather wet himself or vomitted on Matt, which would be very inconvenient even if the blond couldn't help it.

Mello only nodded and pet Abby before cuddling into his friend, clearly shaken.

"Sorry Matt... I can't control them at all..."

Matt flinched, a huge bruise was forming on his side already and it was painful to touch though he cuddled into mello anyway. "it's okay mells."

This would make things complicayed as far as raiding went, but Mello's spirit would work with what he had. He eased into an unrestful sleep, shivering lightly.


	6. Sore

Matt stayed up with his friend for the rest of the night, carefully strokeing his cheek until the morning reviewed his tired expression and huge bruises. He wouldent be able to walk well today and a knee to the gut left his side purple. He pulled down his goggles to hide dark rings around his eyes and shook his friends shoulders. "mells, wake up."

"Don't wanna..." groaned Mello, attempting to hide from his friend and bury himself more. His lack of sleep and no chocolate made for a groggier-than-usual blond.

"come on mells, I... I need your help..." Matt held his sore side. "please? "

With a groan, Mello sat up and shook the sleep away. He crawled out and rolled everything up.

"We gotta get going," he said tiredly.

"Let's find another spot to take what we need..." He yawned and shook his head.

"mells..." Matt sat up slowly, looking drained. "I can't..."

"Matt... I'm sorry, but we have to do this... We'll get food and we'll eat, but we have to do this..."

The redhead frowned trying to stand up normally and almost keeling over. 'mello kicks bloody hard...' he thought to himself but didnt voice it.

The elder boy led his friend at his pace, looking everywhere and carrying the sheets and sleeping bag over his shoulder.

"I'm ver sorry Matt, but this can't halt our progress. We gotta try hard... injuries or not..."

Matt limped along, slowly getting more depressed. He was hungry, tired, and wet as the rain started falling again. "I wanna go home..." he whimpered, far to quietly.

The blond led his friend, heedless of his friend. He was determined to do this mission. He wanted to avenge his idol, but taking his friend means protecting him. He sighed and looked at the scene ahead of him. They had to do this... they had to survive now or die. He was unwilling to die.

Matt almost let out a sob as he was dragged along. His stomach growled loudly and he inevitably flopped down Infront of 'noodle in a box' and refused to stand again.

"Matt!" hissed Mello, grabbing his friend and pulling with resistance.

"Matt, we can't eat right now. We have to eat when we're done." He tugged again, much harder.

"I'm sore and tired mells!" Matt whimpered, "and hungry and cold and wet... I can't so it mells!" he whined back, sounding much more his age then he had in a long time.

"So am I, but you're so much stronger than this..." There was a small crowd here, mostly customers leaving or approaching.

"Matty, please... we have to keep moving."

Matt clearly was on the verge of tears when he finally did get to his feet. "I can't." he stated in a huff, following along anyway. Sooner or later the redhead would sink in his depression, that was easy enough to see. An young mother working at the shop sore the whole thing and filled a small box with honey chicken and fryed rice, handing it to the little redhead. "don't be so down on yourself little one, it gets better." she smiled, "go on, enjoy."

Mello gave a smile of appreciation before leading his friend to an alleyway.

"Here. Eat," he said, leaning against the wall.

"I'll raid what I can, but we can't spend anything." He gave an arm a hug before venturing out.

Matt ate more slowly then usual, more because he felt honestly like he was going to vomit then anything. The sickly boy was just not cut out for the cold or the lack of food and that much was obvious. His mind needed so much fuel to keep running at full speed, which to his credit could at times be much faster then mellos or nears, and he was just still just sick enough to take a good hit badly and have the cold eat at him worse then a normal kid his age. It was snowballing. He wasent eating enough so he was losing weight and his mind was slowing, he was skinnyer and sicker so the cold bit at him more and made him depressed, further slowing down his processing, and he was tired, which was largely due to worry and fear caused by the other problems. The worse things got the more out of control he felt. Even putting everything in mellos hands Didn't seem to make things better.

The elder boy did what he could. His friend was not cut out for this, but he did not protest. That was the signing of an unspoken contract to stay with him, to help him at all costs. Mello was grateful for this, but he didn't want to break the only person who meant anything, save for L.

Mello came back a full half an hour later with at least a little money but Matt just sat there, looking down at the box that still had rice in it despite his usual appetite. "here." he mumbled and handed the box over to his friend.

"You need it more than me, Matty. I can get chocolate anytime." He pushed the rice back and pulled free a couple raw patties that he gave to Abby.

"My metabolism can manage without it."

"I can't eat it... " Matt sighed, "I'm gonna puke mells.."

"We'll save it for later." Mello took the container and set it with the sheets.

"We have $45 right now. We're saving it and we're gonna keep it safe. We have to migrate to better oportunities." He sat down slowly and looked at his friend.

"Matt... do you have regrets?"

"lots..." Matt sighed, "I regret not spending more time with near I guess, or a... Or Linda... Or anyone..."

"You didn't have to be attached to me, but you were. You can't let yourself feel regret anymore. We're gonna do many regrettable things, Matt, but it's for L and fixing what Kira did wrong."

Matt nodded slowly."i don't regret following you mells... I just can't help but think nears probably sitting somewhere alone and wondering if I'm dead... No one else played with him..."

"Near is probably too focused on this case now to really care right now." It was a low blow, but in Mello's world, that runt would always be a burden.

Matt frowned. He had and always would chose mello over near, but he couldn't deny near treated him better.

"I'm getting more in an hour, then we can get something for your bruises. I'm taking no chances."

"it's fine." Matt was careful to hide the purple marks at his side from the knee, mello wouldent even remember hurting him.

"It's your cheek, Matty. We need to make it better." Jokingly, he kissed Matt's cheek.

"Unless you think that helps..."

Matt blushed and smiled for the first time that day. "yeah." but it wasn't his cheek that hurt. "dose it look real bad?" absent mindedly the boy pulled up his shirt where the throbbing had become to much and looked down at the big mark not even he had a good look at.

The bruise looked pretty bad from where Mello was and he frowned.

"I'm real sorry Matty..."

Matt shrugged. "it kinda looks like a bat!"

"Kinda, but we still need to fix it up, or make it less visible if we can." Mello took the rice out and nibbled before putting it away.

"I'll go out one last time today and raid. I'll scoit for another ATM with minimal security tomorrow."

Matt nodded and took a step forward, his head swirled wildly and he fell to his knees."ow..."

"Sit with me," said the blond, gently pulling his friend to his side. He used one of the sheets and covered him up.

"You should rest. Your body needs to heal itself."

Matt shuddered, "mells I..." the little redhead lent over and vomited in the gutter finally, the pain and lack of sleep getting to him.

Mello held his friend and rubbed his back, trying to help his friend feel better.

"Rest, Matty. Rest and I'll go when you wake."

The boy beneath him whined and fell back into his friends arms, looking hazy. "I fell... Sick..."

"Rest," he repeated calmly, rubbing his back carefully.

"Just rest..." he whispered, humming softly.

Matt nodded and fell asleep in mellos lap.

"hrmm..." he groans.

"Good boy..." Mello would keep up his attentions and monitor his friend, looking out for any dangers in the form of the locals.

Matt was looking very unwell when someone shady started hanging around a little too. Close for comfort.


	7. Exposure

Mello looked up and glared. They had possessions that they could not afford to lose. He stood up and glared, curling his hands into fists. Like many Wammy-raised youth, he was stronger than he appeared.

"Back off!" he said to the creep.

"hey hey settle down kid." the sly man huffed, "I'm not into mugging homeless street kids!" no, he was far more interested in the defenseless redhead as a sex slave. "settle down." he smirked and waited for an opening, lunging for the sleeping genius.

Mello anticipated any move and grabbed his arm and used the momentum to shove him into a wall.

The elder got up quickly and grabbed at the sleeping redhead again, though the green eyed boy was no less defenseless then mello and quickly pulled out of his grip. "h-hey what the hell!"

Mello grabbed the creep by his hair and slammed his head down one and kneed his face before shoving him off again.

Matt shakily got to his feet, knowing they needed to get away. Mello was strong, but he was not as graceful as l or even b and that meant he couldent dart our of the way if the creep got up and through a cheep shot. "let's get out of here!"

The bond nodded and took their things, leading his friend as quickly as he could manage.

"That bastard! Who does he think he is anyway?"

"who?" Matt didn't know what was happening, all he knew is he was rudely awoken.

"That creep who was trying to take you from me." The sound of heavy breathing and an angry growl behind him told Mello he had to fight again.

"Stay behind me, Matty... we're not done yet."

"but mells!" Matt wouldent leave his friend on his own, no matter how sick he was.

"Just stay behind me!" Mello ordered before facing down the persistent and angry creeper. In his attention to the target, he didn't see some men in a car, watching his every move.

"mells..." Matt tried to warn. "we gotta go!"

The kidnapper stood, shoving Mello hard out of the way, or at least trying to.

Mello held his ground and pressed against the creeper male, mentally calculating force and time before kneeing creeper man's groin, kneeing his head and giving strong left hooks before bashing his head onto the ground several times.

Matt had to drag his friend away before he killed the man. "someone's watchin mells! We have ta go! Now!"

The elder glanced to see a black car and quickly gathered their things before running off with his friend.

Matt limped off, finding a good little ally to hide in with his friend and there puppy. "who are those guys? I sore them the other day to?"

"I don't know... but I don't think we're gonna like them much..." He caught his breath and sat down heavily.

"I wasn't being perceptive enough... I should have known..."

"known what? Who was that creep?" Matt huffed loudly.

"I don't know!" snapped Mello.

"He wanted to take you away from me and I wasn't going to let him! That's all..." He pulled his friend to join him before doing an inventory check, seeing everything there.

"for what? What good would I do him? I'm useless without a pc anyway..." Matt frowned again. "hey! It's those guys watching us again!" he pointed at the car, a guy calling them over.

Mello was hesitant to do anything, but he was soon on his feet and cautiously walking ahead.

"hey kid. Names river." the tall skinny man in the front seat grinned, jewelry flashing in the sun. "me and my associates have been watching you laitly. Playing ATMs like that. You've got real talent. Victimless crimes right? And after seeing you beat the snot out of that slime ball back there lets just say Im offering you a job. More victimless crimes, but with much bigger pay offs. What do you say?"

It had to be a scam or something.

"How do I know that guy was working for yku already?"

"because he is skum, we don't trade in little kiddy snatchers. Sex slaves are something below us. No, where in the big business! Drugs, weapons and fraud."

That was pretty heavy. He could pull it off easily! Their troubles would be over! Howerever... he didn't want to lose Matt.

"Can I think about it?"

"as long as ya need kid, where easy enough to find, come see us when your ready." the slick man handed over a card with nothing more then an address on it. "ask for me, Kay kid? We could get you off the streets, fix up that friend of yours eh? Cold compress would do him good and get im on is feet!"

Mello took the card with a small nod before returning to his friend.

"Come on... lets get some sleep, alright?"

"He... wanted me to join them... but I refused... for now. I'm considering it."

"join doing what?" matt frowned, "they looked... Shady..."

"Stealing and shit... like we do now, but paid to do it!"

Matt sighed, he didn't even like what they where doing now. "but if where stealing for them, wouldn't we have to give all our money to them? So what if we get paid we would make less then we do now..." Matt mumbled, not fully understanding the concept of working for a criminal organization being anything other then a ticket to being shut down by l, though there was no l to worry about, only Kira which was worse. A criminal, as long as they didn't cross the line, to l was still a redeemable person, to Kira they where only doomed to die.

"I don't know, but we'd get connnections... we'd get reesources and funds... It's too soon right now..."

Matt sighed and took a deep breath. "we should find somewhere to sleep..."

Mello nods and leads his friend away from the scene of the fight, knowing that whoever that creep was, he wouldn't be crossing them again any time soon. He reminded himself that he needed to go for another raid and would do so once their new location was secured.

Matt closed his eyes as he was led along, Abby Behind them. "hey mells, is this place good?"

The alley seemed secure with minimal things that would cause harm. Mello scouted ahead and looked through it, spotting broken bottle bits and many more things that indicated this was used as a party location.

"Too dangerous here. We keep looking." He led his friend onwards, seeking out another one that would be safer.

"there all bad mells!" Matt sighed, "I'm tired."

"Don't worry, we'll find one that will work." He didn't let up his efforts, leading his sickly friend to another alley that seemed more promising and would have to do for now.

Matt was so sopping wet now his whole body shook like leaves in the wind. "cold... Cold..."

"I know Matty, I'm sorry. I promise that I'll keep you warm, alright?" He took the sheets and lay them out before laying down the sleeping bags, glad for the rooftops. He lay his friend down and put Abby next to him.

"Remove your clothes and crawl inside and I'll wring your clothes out. I'll do the same for mine and we can redress quickly, alright?"

Matt quickly stripped down and handed mello his cloths, heading into the bad for some dry pajamas. He looked so innocent, pale, skinny, shaking, rummaging through the bag for something dry.

The blond did as planned and wrung out Matt's clothes as best as he could and set them on the ground to dry. He removed his own clothes and did the same before digging into his own bag and removing another set of clothes, quickly changing.

Once he was curled up in the mock bed he almost started sobbing again. It was just way to cold!

Mello crawled in after setting his clothes to dry and hugged his friend close.

"Sorry for putting you through this..." he mumbled, petting carefully.

"I'm so cold!" the redhead whimpered and nuzzled into his friends chest. "its really cold!"

"I'll keep you warm..." He rubbed warmth back where he could manage and kept up his efforts for several hours non-stop.

Matt's cool sickly body slowly recovered and he gave a soft humm in contentment.

Choosing not to stop, Mello sacrificed much of his own sleep for warming his friend, but he chose to ignore the very tired feeling he was granted with and covered Matt's body with his own when his arms grew tired.

Matts breath was horribly faint the whole night, he wasn't copeing with the cold and that was easy enough to see, they would have to get off the streets soon or die.

The following morning, Mello checked on his friend and shook him awake before pulling his duffle bag close and removing dry, but not necessarily clean clothes out and set them beside him.

"Come on, Matty. We gotta get going..."

That morning it finally got to the point where the little redhead couldn't be woken again, he was cool to touch and stiff, but still clearly breathing.

"Matty?" He was already for the day and upon shaking his friend again and not getting a response, he began to grow panicked.

"Matt! Wake up! Matt!"

The redheads body let out a long, strained breath. Sounding weaker then it should have been after being massaged all night. The bruise on his side was growing darker to, bleeding still under the skin.


	8. An unexpected ally

Mello looked for a way into one of the buildings, running to the front and banging on the door repeatedly, hoping that someone would answer him. He needed to get his friend inside and quickly. He didn't want to lose his only friend.

"Help! Help! My friend's in danger! Please help!"

The owner of the first apartment growled at the small child, wanting to spit on the little street kid who he knew was no good! The second apartment was no better with a snappy old women shutting her blinds so she didn't have to look at him. The third and forth where completely empty but just when he begun to fear no one would help them a tall, skinny, sickly looking man of about 25 opened the door, tired eyes and scruffy white hair greeting him. He looked like an older version of near, maybe near with a hang over, but still. The only difference between this man and near was his bright, red eyes.

"are you alright?" he asked, his voice smooth but concerned.

"My friend's really sick and he needs help! Please, can you help me? He's really cold and he's injured! Please?" Blue eyes looked into red ones pleadingly, worried that his friend was already too far gone at this point.

"alright, take me to him." the mans voice became a little wary, as though expecting to be lured off and mugged, which in this part of the town wasn't unlikely.

"Thank you!" Without waiting a second longer, he takes the man's hand and leads him to the alley where their things were and let go to run to Matt's side, rubbing warmth into him and shaking him gently.

"Matty, we're going to be alright. It's gonna be okay." Despite the odd eyes that this man possessed, Mello had an odd sense of security with him. He knew their time with him would be very limited, but he would be ever grateful for his help.

The tall man crouched down in the damp ally and slowly ran his fingers down Matt's arm to his pulse. Every movement was delicate and precise, Practiced as though he had done it every day of his life. When Matt moaned he gently moved his hand to the boys forehead to feel his temperature and then looked back at the blond. "I am sorry, but I can't carry him." he almost whispered, petting the dog that crept out of the sleeping bag to nuzzle his hand. "I'm not strong enough anymore." his eyes where sad, almost guilty for not being able to help the boy inside. "you can come inside, if you can lift him."

"Alright, but please watch over him so I can get our things. I don't want to be in your way, but my friend is very ill. I don't wanna lose him." He carefully tried to lift his friend, stumbling at first, but gaining his footing.

"Come on Abby," he ordered before following the tall man back. He barely had enough strength as it was.

"Thank you again, sir..." said the blond with a small smile.

"snow." the elder sighed at his own name, it was as though his hair and pail skin ruled his life. He unlocked the door and lead mello into his little apartment. It was in slight disarray but not unclean, with Furniture that was miss matched and books lazily stacked on the coffee table. He pushed it out of the way and forced the double bed to unfold from the lounge, though it left him huffing to do so. "alright, lay him down."

The blond lay his friend down and hugged him before looking at the albino man.

"I'll be back. I'm sorry again for intruding, but my friend is really ill. I don't want him to die." He rushed back outside, trailed by Abby while he gathered everything as neatly as possible and carrying them inside, setting them near the doorway.

"I don't mind... I like the company..." he mused quietly and pulled the covers up over the little redhead. "I have medicine... Just... Give me a moment..." he was panting already, from so little movement, he was clearly sick and not just hung over.

"Mr. Snow? I can get the medicine myself. I don't mind. Just tell me where it is." Mello didn't want the sickly man to hurt himself for his friend.

"just snow." he corrected gently and gestured in the direction of his own room. "it's in there, under the bed, don't get lost." he gave a small smile mello wouldn't understand until he sore the shear size of the mans first aid kit.

With a little effort on his end, Mello was able to get the kit freed and carried it to the bed and set it down and opened it. There was a lot more items in this case, he noted, containing more than just gauze and emergency items. It had medicines, even a few syringes and syringe bottles.

"I get sick a lot..." the elder sighed quietly and rummaged through everything he had. "the kitchen is back that way, can you go get an ice pack?" he asked, taking out a vial or something mello recognized as a mild sedative and pain relief as well as something he did not quite know but the red eyed man seemed trustworthy.

Mello nodded and took his leave, walking to the kitchen and dug for the item in the freezer. He walked back and set it beside the sickly male carefully.

"I can help around here for a while, if that's alright with you? I don't want to be a burden, but I can help you out until we have to go," he offered.

"I could use that." he smiled and lifted the boys shirt, putting the ice pack to his skin, though it turned to a frown when Matt whimpered and pulled away. "it will slow the bleeding." he explained, "and reduce the swelling, please don't fuss."

The older boy climbed on the bed and lay next to his friend, rubbing his skin to try warm it.

"Matt, it's alright. This man is gonna help us and help you get better." He looked at Snow and smiled widely.

"You don't know how much this means to me. I am very grateful for your help. Thank you so much."

"that's alright." he nodded, his eyes thoughtful as he drew up the two needles from the vials he had before, making a quick and accurate guess at Matt's bodyweight. "but if you stay here, I would like to know your name."

"My friend's name is Matt, and I'm Mello," he said almost shyly. There was still distrust with such personal information and using their aliases would have to do for now.

"alright mello..." he gave another soft smile and pet his head. Taking a bandage and wrapping up Matt's middle so he could put the icepack on the wound and then use anouther layer of bandages to hold it in place. "I'm going to turn the heating up... If the medicine works he will sleep most of the day, but he should feel better when he wakes. I think he is suffering from expos-" the smoothe voice was cut off by the albinos violent coughing, his eyes watering with the effort. "s-sorry... I was saying... This is mostly exposure... I'd take him to the hospital... But I can't afford it... " clearly the man couldn't afford to go himself.

"I can see that. I will do whatever I can to help you help my friend. You're an angel in disguise Snow, and I'm glad that you are a part of our lives." Mello swore that he would do what it took to help his new friend and he would honor that choice until it was time to go.

The albino nodded slowly and gave another week smile. He looked like near, but that was clearly as far as the resemblance went. "sleep tight then." he whispered, his voice now horse from coughing as he made his way to the heater. "I'm going to watch some television in my room, help yourself to the fridge..." he picked up his first aid kit on his way back to the bedroom, sitting down on his own bed and fumbling for his own medicine.

Mello watched every movement and noted the time. Tomorrow, he would help with his evening medicine. Snow was special and special people to Mello deserved nothing less than the best. He would give his best for this kind stranger. He lay next to Matt the entire time, glad for the warmth and safety here. He pulled Abby up and let her sleep with them.

The taller male walked about the house every so often, but mostly he was quiet, almost tiptoeing to avoid disturbing Matt as he slept. The redhead soon woke anyway however, rubbing still tired eyes for a moment while trying to process where he was. "what's goin on mells?" he mumbled.

The blond was seated beside his friend, watching Snow's every move before looking at his friend.

"This is Snow and this is his home. He's letting us stay here until you get better. He's a very nice person, Matty. He's very ill though, but he's very kind," he said gently, looking up at the albino man with a smile.

The elder had shuffled about with some books for some time, though it seemed he didn't have the intentions of actually reading them. He was having trouble thinking clearly already and where to put the displaced books and Coffee table had somehow become a priority.

"he looks pretty terrible..." Matt mumbled to his friend, watching his body shake slightly. "h-hey?" Matt caught the albinos attention and he turned red eyes on the boy, but there was absolutely nothing threatening about him. "he looks like near..." he thought out loud, train of thought derailed while trying to ask what was wrong with the man.

"Yeah, he does, but Near's eyes are still grey. Snow is a true Albino," he said to his friend quietly.

"Snow, did you want any help with those?" he offered carefully.

"I can help if you want before we get cleaned."

The elder seemed to think for a lot longer then he had to not even that much longer before. "I'm not... Quite sure what I'm doing..." he admitted, his head tilted slightly to the side and rubbing a beard he didn't have.

"It looks like you are moving the books and table," he said carefully, clearly confused as Snow was very much more orientated last night before they woke.

He looked to the books in his hand then the table, trying to work out exactly what he had intended to do with them. "I don't know where to put them..." his voice was still smooth but there was a hint of worry one confusion there that wasn't there before.

"do you feel okay?" Matt asked, watching the young man sway slightly in place. "don't fall over."

"I'm just feeling... A little unwell..."

"Do you need anything? Did you forget to take anything this morning?" questioned Mello, looking concerned for the sickly man.

"I'm hungry..." he mumbled after a short pause, wandering into the kitchen as though mello had said nothing.

"err... He's weird mells..."

"No... he wasn't like this yesterday... You could understand him clearly. Something's missing... Maybe he forgot one of his medicines? I don't want to risk overdosing him, but there has to be a solution." He got up from the bed and followed Snow.

"Hey... umm... What do you want? I can try to make it for you..." he offered.

"tea." the tired looking man was clearly having trouble staying focused, forgetting food and instead heading for the tea cabinet.

"Please, sit down." Mello gestured for the tired male to sit and took over the task of tea making. He went to the fridge then and decided that an orange would be alright for now and set it on the table before getting to making the tea.

The albino picked at the fruit for awhile but after finishing it much of the light seemed to return to his eyes and he started to process things again. "you don't have to do that, you should be with your friend, he will wake soon." he nodded, slowly stacking up his orange peel in an oddly familiar way.

"Matt's already awake, Snow. He saw you when you were not yourself. What was happening before?" he inquired curiously. He noted the way the fruit was piled and inwardly hoped he was related to another special person, but knew it wasn't possible.

"hrmm?" the albinos mind quickly started ticking over again and he sighed. "I suppose I may have been a little low on sugar..." he continued to stack absentmindedly.

"Are you sure that's all?" Mello took another orange out and peeled it before breaking it in half, planning to give the other half to Matt.

"You seemed really confused before and not sure what you wanted at all."

"that happens sometimes..." he shrugged, "my apologies." slowly he sipped at the tea mello had set next to him, dumping in another two sugar cubes. "I will come out and talk to him again in a second, just let me recover a little longer..."

"Alright..." Mello moved himself from the kitchen and rejoining his friend, giving him the other half of the orange.

"Here you go Matty..." he said gently, handing it over and nibbling on his half.

Matt devoured the entire thing, seeds and all, obviously feeling a lot better. He was about to ask mello for more when the hacking cough rang out throughout the house and startled him. "you wernt kidding when you said he was sick..."

"Yeah... He's an albino like Near and he looks like Near except for his eyes... He's really weak and ill all the time it seems... I feel like we owe it to him to help him out while we're here, you know?"

Matt nodded slowly. "yeah..." Matt didn't like the idea that he was eating the poor guys food suddenly and felt like he needed to make up for it.

After a few long moments snow slinked back into the lounge room with a small smile and sat down on the bed next to the little redhead who still didn't look quite as healthy as the white haired male would have liked.

"hello, my name is snow." he offered his hand and Matt shook it with a grin.

"thanks for lettin us steal your bed!"

"sofa..." the man corrected, "it is not comfortable enough to be called a bed..." neither was his own bed however, but he wasn't going to bring that up and he shook the thought away. "you need to eat, there are frozen pies in the freezer, help yourself."

"Snow... umm... I would feel bad if we didn't repay you in some way. I would love to help you, but perhaps we can get you more food for your home for the ones we take?" He offered a small smile in return.

"it that is what you want, your free to stay as long as you like." slowly he stood on shaky feet and headed for his bedroom once more to take his all important shots.

Mello looked at Matt, then back at Snow.

"Matt... Snow seems to look a lot like... you know... L..." he said quietly, feeling sorry for the sickly male.

"Maybe we could... stick around for another few days."

Matt nodded quickly and cuddled into the warmth of the bed. "yeah! We can help him with the house!" the redhead gave a little smile and peeked through the door, he could see snow sitting back in his bed struggling with the needles.

"hey mells... Do you remember how to give a shot? He might want a bit of help, he looks all shaky..."

"Yeah, you need steady hands." Mello smiled and moved to help Snow.

"Hey... umm... I can do this for you. I know how to be careful and I seen the other scars..." He trailed off and held out his hand with a smile. Many of them were from missed locations and repeated attempts.

The kind red eyed man gave a sigh and handed over the little vial and needle, pulling the strap tighter around the top of his arm. Mello surely couldn't be as bad as him at least. "it has to go in a vein." he mumbled, "so you need to hit blood..." a quick look at the vial told him that it had something to do with his insulin levels, more specifically something to drop his insulin levels.

The blue eyed boy nodded and waited for the vein to be visible and used an alcohol swab to clean the area before easing the needle into Snow's arm and injecting the medicine when the vein was hit.

"Alright, you're good to go," he said with a smile.

"thank you, mello." the elder mumbled and laid back in the bed, looking more then a little exhausted as anouther wave of coughing ripped through his whole body. It was a wounder that snow didn't drug himself up to spare himself the pain, but then he wouldent be able to function as well on his own and was more likely to forget his medication.

"Anytime..." Mello was detached from giving affection to anyone else but Matt, however he edged close and gave Snow a gentle hug, feeling a deep need to be here come up from within.

Snow gave a soft hug back after a few long moments, petting mellos hair with a little smile which only brightened when Abby jumped up on the low bed and nuzzled them both. "hello again." he whispered bentween now ragged breaths. Abby already liked him, he was compleatly unthreatening and soft, and he liked her much as he liked everyone else who didn't judge him, dog or not.

Mello parted from the hug and smiled.

"You're a nice person, Snow. You helped us when no one else did. You are an angel in this very dangerous part of LA. Thank you again..."

"your welcome." he smiled, absent mindedly putting a hand over his chest in a way that was more then a little concerning to mello. The albinos skin was always so cold, and he seemed to always have discomfort in his chest from the way he grabbed at it every now and then. There was nothing for it, they would have to find out what was wrong with him if they had any chance of helping him in there stay.

Mello left the room and rejoined Matt.

"Matt... I want to help Snow a lot better. Something is wrong with him. We can get the right connections to help him. I'll look around and see what there is for him. Kira can wait for now; Snow is sick and he needs help."

This was more then w little shocking to the redhead. "'Kira can wait?'" he mumbled, looking more then a little shocked, "since when mells?" As talented as Matt was with computers he had been taught other skills at wammys and had other talents, one of which was driven into him purely out of the need to look after mello when he was sick. Sure he would never be a doctor, and wasent as good with medicine as he was with computers, but he was deffinately more knolageable and resausful then even the best adult med student. Roger had often said it was a pitty for the world that Matt wasent interested.

"Snow took us in. He could have turned us away like the others did and you could have died. Helping Snow is something we owe him. I'm not forgetting Kira, but I don't want to leave Snow here while he suffers."

Matt pulled a face at the thought of dying out on the streets and nodded slowly. "what do you wanna do?"

"We take care of him. We give him medical help or medical connections that will help him for free. We owe it to him to help him get better. This means helping with his meds."

"easy enough." Matt nodded and gave a little smile. "do you know exactly what's even wrong with the guy?"

"He's got a pharmacy Matt and he's an albino. What do you think is wrong with him? Think about Near and how weak and frail he is too." He wanted to smack Matt across the head then.

Matt thought for a long moment back on his time with near, remembering all the times he had visited him in the hospital wing. There had even been a few scary times when for almost no apparent reason the white haired boy had contracted a horrible lung infection and gone down hill so fast they where worried he wouldn't make it. The little redhead pressed his lips together and gave a little nod. "w-well he has been on his own for ages right? It's probably not as and as it looks!"

"Either that, or whatever has him now has just been allowed to get worse. We can try to slow, stop and reverse it. I don't want to lose him..." His gaze hardened and he looked at his friend.

"He's going to get worse if we don't do anything." He looked back to Snow and his gaze softened.

"Today, we get clean and help out Snow and tomorrow I'll look around."

Matt nodded and slowly pulled himself up out of bed on shaky feet. He was still far to sick to walk properly on his own and that made him a little frustrated. "stupid legs..." he huffed, holding onto the wall. "where's the bathroom?"

"It's... um..." Mello looked around, spotting it connected to the kitchen.

"Over here. I'll wash us cause it will go faster." He helped his friend to the bathroom and set about getting them into the small shower.

The littler genius enjoyed the attention from his friend and the feeling of the hot water washing over him, though he couldn't help but notice that there was blood on the corner of the sink. "he hit his head..." Matt thought aloud, "so he falls a lot..." he was trying to peace together everything in his mind, though he was not quite the detective mello was.

"He's very frail. He's stabbed himself numerous times from missing the vein from his injections. He limps in a way that suggests his sugar levels that dropped have had him bump and fall everywhere in his home. I think someone comes here and delivers his food, cause I can't see him doing this alone anymore. I think helping him will do good for his mental and physical health."

"pity we can't just call a..." Matt sighed, "she would take real good care of him I'm sure!" the green eyed boy adored his aunt and missed her as much as anyone. "we could just ask him what's going on... If even he knows..." he mumbled as the water went cold and he almost lept from the shower sick or not. "f-freaking hell it's freezing!"

Mello turned off the water and used the towel that was there to dry off his friend.

"Dress up as much as you can and go back. I'll make up something for us and we can talk to him about what's wrong."

Matt nodded and pulled a towel around his waist before scampering out to get cloths on still shaky legs. When he got to the kitchen however he paused in place looking at the taller male. He was fussing about in the fridge but he had put three plates out, each with a tiny little, but very well cooked steak, peas and carrots, and a pile of mashed potato, all dripping in the best smelling herb butter Matt had ever smelt in his entire life.

"did you cook that for us?" he asked almost shyly, and the elder turned around, raising a nearly non existent eyebrow at Matt in a towel.

"no, I make a habbit of cooking for my imaginary friends." he stated rather sarcastically though his voice was still just as gentile and kind even when obviously teasing.

"I was going to cook for us," said Mello, looking at the best meal he'd seen in a long time.

"I mean... I'm not all that great, but I try." He smiled though and looked at Snow.

"Thank you though."

"no... I like cooking..." he turned back to his fridge. "I used to be a chef..."

"Used to? I don't think you lost it," remarked the blond.

"You are very talented," he said with a smile.

Red eyes looked back and a sad expression flickered across his usually pretty happy face. "I can't work anymore..." he said bitterly, "I am 'hazard'."

"Your illness made you unable to cook for anyone anymore..." Mello looked at Snow's chest then.

"What's going on with your chest if you don't mind my asking?"

The elder closed the fridge, putting two bottles of chocolate milk on the table, though one was clearly a pristine drink and it was slid in Matt's direction. Snow was sure that this would help him put back on the weight but from the way the little redhead was devouring the food like a rabid dog he was sure there where other ways.

"my chest?"

"Yeah. You grab your chest like it's in pain... Is something wrong with it?" He looked at the glass and lifted it gratefully, having not had his chocolate fix in days.

"We know a doctor where we came from and I know she would dedicate herself to you 150% if she knew you were in poor health."

He smiled kindly again and gave a little nod. "there's a whole in my heart..." he stated rather bluntly, "it lets the blood go backwards and makes me rather ill sometimes. I was told, when I did have the money, that they could fix it with a surgery, but due to my other medical conditions I would most likely die on the operating table, so no one will touch me."

"I'm sure she would have. She has cures and cocktails that can fix nearly any ailment. I'm sure she would fix yours in a heartbeat. That means you can be helped. We just need the right connections." Mello smiled confidently and looked at Matt. A would and could fix him, but they had no way of reaching her now as they were.

The elder shook his head slowly, "she probably would tell me what they did, that I'm simply to weak to do anything to..." Matt finally looked up with a frown.

"your really that sick then?" he mumbled.

"I dont like to think that way..." snow shrugged, "I'm just a little unlucky."

"Didn't your parents try to help you before you moved on your own?" Mello thought it unfair that someone so kind would be 'unlucky'. There had to be something more to this.

This put anouther sad expression on his face. "my mother was a poor bar maid who hated me... She blamed me for breaking her and my father up... He left her because I was a disgrace... All they left me with was a name to remind me that the color of my eyes and hair will forever be the only thing people ever judge me by."

"Those assholes! No offence, but you did nothing to anyone. You're a great guy, Snow! Your so kind and you're very talented and probably smart. You're not the first albino we know and no one judged him on his appearance. It was his mind they were threatened by. I was kinda the same in that respect."

Snow gave a soft laugh, "he must have lived a sheltered life..." he whispered, eating slowly bite by bite.

"well... Yeah..." Matt admitted. In wammys it wasent your looks they judged you on. Hell! Most of them had never even seen the person that almost everyone there looked up to! Or maybe they had seen him, and just never recognized him.

"it was very hard for me to get a job. I even look like a liability, and when I finally got my dream job I slowly got so sick people stopped trusting me... Then one day... I think I was making onion and chive soup..." he looked at his plate, eyes saddened just by the thought, "well... I collapsed... I dropped my knife and it went through the restraint managers foot... I don't need to tell you who they got the ambulance for first..."

"I'm sorry, Snow... I didn't mean to bring those memories back." Mello looked guilty for a few moments before looking back up again.

"You don't deserve to be treated like a liability. You have something special and I can feel it coming from you all the time."

Snow nodded slowly and picked at the potato. "but they where right... Even if they where wrong back then, they are right now... I could not work again... I want to... But I can't..."

Matt took a huge chug of his chocolate milk though it quickly came out his nose when he choked on the horrible taste, which in turn brought the smile back to snows face.

"the hell!" Matt hissed at the horrible tasting drink, now more on the table then in the cup.

Mello smirked then tasted the drink, recoiling slightly himself.

"It's not rotten, Matty... I think it's something that's supposed to help you." He chugged his own drink with a happy hum.

"If you could change the past... what would you change so that you will be happy?"

Snows smile stayed in place, "nothing, I am happy." he couldent help but smile at the redhead who was licking his napkin to rid himself of the taste. "I wish I could work again, but that's not my life anymore. And I wish I had a family, but it's to late for that now so I can't fret about it."


	9. Life with snow

"I'm sure we could be your family..." offered Mello quietly, looking to Matt.

"Matt's my best friend, but he's more than that to me. He's like a brother to me. He's stuck by me through thick and thin." He smiled and looked back.

"You're like... a big brother or maybe an uncle..." he added shyly.

"you barely know me." snows soft smile stayed in place, it always did.

"yeah... But you saved me..." the redhead finished his plate and got up to put it in the sink.

"Doing something so selflessly for my friend where the others turned us down... you don't know how much that means to us. We were taught that there is good and bad in this world and that the good are rewarded and the bad are given justice. You're a good person and you will be one day rewarded greatly for helping us." Mello smiled and did the same before returning.

"The person that took care of us before he left for good... he didn't have to raise us, but he did and he did a good job of it for as long as he did."

"you have no family to return home to then?" snow asked carefully, starting to look a little tired from being up and about.

"Well... no... not exactly..." said Mello then, looking at Snow.

"I was born here in America. I'm an American citizen like yourself... but I lost my parents at the age of 4 and I was moved to England where I lived until recently. I lost someone I was close to and I decided I didn't want to live in England anymore, so I came back to America..."

"and you Matt?"

The redhead gave a thick sounding sigh, "I liked it in England... I was born there... I don't know why mello was so insistent on coming but I'll follow him until I die... Or until he feeds me to Abby!"

"It's not going to happen, Matty and you know it," said Mello with a smile.

"There is a reason I did come back, but I am not quite comfortable telling you just yet. We have only been here less than a month now. It's not important right now though. What's important now is that we can help you in return for taking us in." He smiled and looked to Abby who looked about to pee right there, whining loudly to be let out.

"Come on, Abby. Let's go outside. I'll be right back."

"put some cloths on." snow advised wisely before mello left. It was raining after all. Matt did the same, it was still quite cold even in the apartment. The heater was warm but all the cracks in the roof and floor let the chill back in.

Mello had forgotten he was still in a towel and flushed slightly before going to change quickly, reappearing with his black clothes on before taking a whining puppy out to pee.

Snow once more shuffled off to bed, looking like death warmed up. Matt couldn't help but listen to the constant string of coughing that stretched on for what felt like hours. When mello got back he was still hacking, it was as though he could find no relief even in sleep.

"pretty sure he is dying..." Matt mumbled, looking out at the dark sky.

"If he is... then we can do what we can for him. We make it a better life for him now than what he probably was having for many years. We're guests in his home and we should respect it. I already know when he takes what medication, so I will tell you the times so you can help him out as well. I know A would be here right now making him as comfortable as possible. He would have a better mattress to sleep on, that's for sure. I'll look around for any store that has those foam things that make things comfortable for the back and head and I'll save money to buy them for him."

Matt turned off the light and curled up in bed, pulling the blankets that smelled of mud and dirt from him and mello crashing there the night before.

"suppose we can't do anything now..."

"I suppose not, but he's not dead yet and we should remember that. While he's still alive, we can't take it for granted. We honor him and respect him and treat him the way Watari would have wanted us to treat anyone like him." He looked to Snow's room and sat on their bed.

"I'll give him an orange first thing tomorrow in case he needs one."

"come on, lay down with me." Matt pulled on mellos shirt and sighed. He just couldn't see the situation the way mello could. Snow stayed coughing and hacking most of the night, though Matt slept through it. It was hard to resist the urge to go and check on him a few times when the coughing would stop and silence would take over.

Mello didn't sleep most of the night as a result of this and understandably so. He was worried for his new friend and while he knew that he wasn't dead, he was dying. That was not hard to see. He didn't know how Matt would react and how well he would accept this, but he was ready for it, whenever it would happen.

By morning the silence was deafening. Mello had gone over a million times in his head what he could do to save snows life, but it all ended in one thing... A... She was the only one who could do anything, but it would take time to find her. She was as well hidden as l himself. And deliberately so.

He removed himself from the bed and crept to Snow's room, feeling his heart pounding in his ears. He was afraid as he was this whole time for Snow's life. He pressed a finger under Show's nose, feeling some relief in small puffs, but those only made him worry more. He rubbed his arms gently then his chest, trying to stimulate deeper breathing.

Much to mellos surprise snow responded quickly and very well, starting to take deeper and deeper breaths in time with the blonds rubbing though he still didn't wake. Matt woke and looked about, feeling oddly alone in the small house.

"mells?" he called out in the still darkness.

"I'm in here," he replied just loud enough for Matt to hear.

"Snow wasn't breathing almost, and I am just helping him breath better at the moment."

Matt got up slowly and waddled into the room, still a little unsure on his feet. "you got him going again?" the redhead was more then a little curious as to what was going on right under his nose.

"Yeah. I'm doing what I did to you when you had your last asthma attack." He was still rubbing his chest carefully, happy that the albino man was doing so well. He wouldn't let him try on his own just yet.

"what happened?" Matt sat down on the horrible matrices and frowned. "this bed is horrible..." he was starting to risk getting hit for being so loud and he knew it. Mello was obviously trying to keep the elder asleep after being up all the night before sick. "god there's blood all over the pillow! "

"Matt... shush!" he hissed, glaring lightly at his friend. He let go after another minute and led his friend back.

"Don't pry into things that don't involve you, alright? He's very sick and these sorts of things happen."

"your prying more then I am!" Matt huffed, pulling a face. He wanted to help his friend not be stuck in the creepy old house all alone. "besides you can't help him if you don't know what's happening! For all you know he could have had a seizure or something and hit his head! Did you check his pulse? He could have had a heart attack and be on his last breaths! You don't know what's happened, so you can't treat him."

In the other room the ex-chefs chest quickly sank again, not able to sustain the deeper breaths on his own for long. It was sad, but this was almost normal for snow. As long as he held on no matter how weakly he would wake up and be thankful he was alive for another day.

"I don't know, but I'm not giving up on him, not like everyone else did!" He huffed and went back to start gently stimulating his chest once more.

Matt followed his friend to the door, "since when did you care so much mells?" he kept his voice down to avoid angering him further.

"Maybe cause he just looks too much like... him... I already lost him... I want to help Snow out so he can at least go peacefully..."

Matt sighed and walked back over to the bed, intending to help this time. He took the elders pale whist and felt for a pulse, giving a sigh and sliding his hand up along his neck after a moment of frustration "his pulse is to weak mells..." he sighed and shook his head. "dose he normally take anything for his heart in the morning?"

"From what I seen, I think so." He looks to the pills and parts to sort them out in the order he takes them, including the syringes.

"how far are you going to take this mells?" Matt's voice dropped even quieter, not wanting snow to hear, "it's one thing to take care of him and another all together to give him life support..."

"We're helping him, that's all..." Mello sighed and returned to rubbing Snow's chest carefully.

"When we have the right connections for him, then we can leave him be..." Even after saying that, Mello was apprehensive. He didn't want to abandon Snow, but Kira was still out there, like it or not.

"okay..." Matt was satisfied with that and looked over at the medicine. "well... That ones a blood pressure medication..." he stated bluntly and pointed to the bottle of pills. "gotta wake him up to take that though..." it was slightly worrying to Matt that even with the fuss of mello virtually sitting on him and massaging his chest fairly firmly the chef wasn't waking up, to him it screamed that his consciousness was impaired at the very least. A was a big fan of gently easing very sick people back into consciousness when she could, and the same thoughts had been printed into Matt's mind. If they stressed him out by waking him up and forcing medication down his thought there was always that chance the stress would be to much.

"He has medication for pretty much all his ailments. Painkillers, anti-inflammitories, antibiotics, vitamins and mineral supplements and even anti-depressants..." He didn't stop his efforts once. It was still early though and Mello believed Snow could wake on his own in an hour.

The last part took Matt back a little. Snow didn't appear depressed at all...

"w-well I suppose we can give it a bit and see if he wakes up before we go cramming it down his thought and choking him..."

Almost right on que an hour later the elder opened his eyes and blinked a few times to try and focus in the dark.

"mello?" his voice was still thick with sleep. "what are you doing?"

"I was helping you breath a little easier," answered the blond bluntly.

"Your breaths were weak and I was worried..."

Snows pale face lit up in a warm smile. "thank yo-" he was cut off mid word by a violent coughing fit that shook his entire body, blood coming up into his hand.

Though scared, Mello took off his shirt and used that to wipe the blood off.

"We'll help you with your needle again if you want," he offered with a small smile.

"yes... Please..." those bright red eyes where glistening with tears just from the force of the violent hacking. Matt looked at the blood and frowned, it wasn't from his lungs thankfully, but it meant his thought was ripped to peaces.

"I'll get some water okay?" he whispered and slowly got to his feet.

"n-no, you still need to... To be in bed..." the sickly male whispered, already shaking.

"We're already awake though... and it's impossible for me to sleep again." Mello used another part of the shirt to clean tears away.

"We're here to help you," he reminded gently.

"he is still sick..." snow protested though he was so weak his eyes where's starting to fall shut against his will once more.

"You're more sick," reminded the blond, feeling bad for bringing it up.

"Matt wants to help to. It's the least he can do, yeah?"

Snow nodded slowly and let his eyes fall compleatly shut until Matt returned with a glass of juice instaid. It would sting to drink but he needed the sugar to get into his body sooner rather then later.

"hey! Hey don't go back to sleep!" matt put the cup down on the bedside table "take your medicine first, then we'll let you sleep all you want!"

Snow gave a light huff, amused by the fuss. "this happens... All the time... There is no need to worry..."

"Please drink it as soon as you can, alright? No pressure; just take your time." Mello looked to his friend and back.

"I trust you."

"can you pass me... Some of those bottles please?" he asked gentily, trying to sit up and causing another wave of coughs.

Mello knew what bottles he took and opened them for the sickly male.

"There you go." The blond climbed off Snow and went to his side, mentally counting every pill and supplement and filing it away.

The elder knew exactly how much to take of everything without even having to look at the container. He knew the size and shape of every pill and what it did by heart. There where 5 different pills and 8 in total every morning and even more before he went to bed. He popped them all in his mouth and washed them down the the orange juice as quickly as possible to avoid the taste.

"can you get my injection to?" he asked more then a little shyly. He wasent used to the help, not that it wasent appreciated, he just didn't know what to do with it.

"Yeah." Mello grinned and looked to Matt.

"You wanna give it a try, Matty? I'll get the amount in and all you have to do is inject the needle, push the plunger and take the needle out again, but keep a swab over in case he bleeds."

Matt groaned. "I know how to give a needle mells!" he shook his head slowly, "a says I'm better at it then the nurses at-" Matt paused, realizing he had just set himself up to be called 'nurse-matty' for the rest of his life!

"Alright then, 'nurse Matty'," he said with a playful smirk.

"You can give his shot this morning." He handed the syringe over and gave the redhead space.

"asshole." Matt hissed, snatching the needle. It was true though, unlike snow who had littered his arm with puncture wounds and mello who still had to fiddle around once the needle was inside to find the vein Matt hit it the first time so smoothly the elder didn't even feel it go in.

"You set yourself up for that one, so you can't say shit," countered the blue eyed teen. He looked at Snow who appeared to be normal-ish again and smiled.

"Did you want anything for breakfast later? I can make oatmeal if you have it."

"I will cook." snow stated bluntly, "I enjoy cooking..." it was the one thing in his life he still took pleasure in, and he wasent going to give it up to his illness just yet.

Before mello or Matt could counter the door bell rung and snows smile became even wider. He knew it was the delivery girl with fresh food, and all he could think about was the taste of some caramalised apple or blueberry pancakes rather then the horrible young women who braught it every week. Slowly he tried to pull himself out of bed, but anouther coughing fit took him before he could.

"c-can you? The m-money's on... The bench..."

"I got you covered." Mello took the money and went to the door and answered it, immediately disliking the woman he was greeted by.

The girl was about 19 or twenty and she had braught two of her gasping friends along. They didn't even see mello had opened the door at first they where to busy chatting and giggling. "is he really a ghost? "

"nah he is just a sick freak of nature, but I'm telling you his eyes are bright red!"

"like bloodshot?"

"no like red red! Seriously!"

"maybe he is a ghost!"

"or a zombi!" the third chimed in.

Mello glared at this trio.

"Leave him alone, yeah?" he said rather loudly.

"He did nothing wrong to anyone!"

"oh?" the girl found disappointed snow didn't answer the door. "did he kick the bucket? Are you his like... Little brother or something?"

"no way there not related, he isn't a freak!" the second girl pointed out.

"shh! Don't say that! He's right there!"

"if he is dead what would his little brother care what we say, it's not like anyone would miss a freak like that!" they where speaking in hushed voices, atleast the girls thought they where hushed voices, mello could here every word.

"Just give me the food, yeah? I'll pay you and you ignoramus trio can take your loud traps with you..."

"hey! We just wanna see the down town ghost!" the third whined, trying to shove her way in the door. "ill put it on the table for you!"

"oooh your cute!" the second pinched mellos cheek, "pitty your not a bit older!"

"even if he was he has bad geans! You don't want baby ghosts do you?"

"aww look he isn't a ghost, are you blondy?"

"The name's not 'Blondy' and I'm certainly not a fucking ghost..." he growled.

"Please... just hand it over and we can go on with our lives..."

"no! We came all the way down here to see the ghost! The girl pushed past followed by her friend, exploring the house completely uninvited, though somewhere deep down mello knew that snow was incapable of being as mad at them as he has the right to be.

"Hey! You can't be in here!" Mello wasn't looking for a fight or conflict, but he would hit a girl to defend his new and current friend. None of the girls at Wammy's could say otherwise.

The three managed to force there way all the way to snows bedroom, peaking inside and immediately turning white themselves.

The albino had been choking on his own blood so Matt did the only thing he could do and pull him forward so he was hunched over, head resting on mats shoulder and recovering from the blood he hacked up, running down his chin and over the boys neck. Snow was to dizzy to really register what was happening, but when he turned to the girls scratching all they sore was a vampire sucking the life out of some random child's neck.

Mello looked in and had to stifle a laugh, at the same time a gasp of concern. This was perfect, but worrying.

"Leave the food and get out!" he said again, curling his hands into fists, but not before acting ahead of time and taking the container and shoving the brat the money.

The girl shirked and all three nearly tripped over each other in there hurry to escape, suddenly no longer wanting to see the 'ghost'

"oh god he's a vampire!"

"he's going to eat us!"

"vam-pire?" snow looked a little confused, but slowly his senses returned and he frowned. "o-oh sorry..." he took the blanket and started wiping Matt's neck, though the redhead was to busy trying to put together the events of the last five minuets.

"the hell is with them?"

"I believe those traps were helping Miss Ignoramus deliver Snow's food. That scene with Snow and the blood on your neck was just perfect timing, if a little worrisome."

"huh?" matt blinked a few times. "why'd ya let those idiots in?"

Snow frowned slightly, concern washing over his features. "I didn't bite him..."

"there... Kinda like wasps arnt they?" Matt's brows furrowed, "big, bitchy wasps..."

Snow was so delicate wiping the blood off the redheads neck it sent shivers down his spine and he shuddered.

"I'm sorry, was I to rough?"

"no it's just really ticklish." Matt snorted a little laugh at the implication that anything snow ever did could possibly be rough.

"Well they're gone and I'm glad. I don't wanna see them again for a while." He looked at the pair and smiled, becoming relaxed again.

"the blond one comes every week..." snow mumbled and tried to get to his feet again. He knew exactly what he wanted to make for brekfest, and he would get to the kitchen if it killed him

Mello looked to his friend and went to one side and helped him up to his feet.

"Well... maybe she'll learn not to barge in again now that we're here," he stated calmly.

"I don't like to be negative." Snow mumbled, trying to pull on a warm pair of pants and a hoody, though he refused to put anything on his feet, cold or not, "but this will most likely make it worse..."

"We'll make sure it doesn't," said Mello confidently.

"You learn a lot coming from an orphanage."

"I suppose..." snow finally got into the kitchen and suddenly it was hard to tell snow was so sick, every movement became far more graceful and practiced and he chopped up apples a cooked pancakes and melted toffy over each and every bit. Making the three plates easily. Te pancakes where so perfect and they where stacked two to a plate with a caramalised apple on top, drissled with the toffy left from the pan.

"god... He would love the old man!" Matt was drooling. He only ever ate food that looked this good once before and that was made by none other then watari.

Mello looked saddened, remembering their precious elder.

"I'm sure he would have gotten along swimmingly," he said with a sad smile, enjoying the very delicious pancakes.

"I don't think I could ever equal you in culinary skill, Snow," he added with a wider smile. They were simply Devine!

"most cannot. Snow smiled and ate happily. Just haveing someone there to make food for ,add him feel better.

After Mello could eat no more, he opted to wait before doing dishes. He would go out today and try get more connections for Snow and for Matt and himself. He also needed to get a hold of a foam mattress. Snow needed comfort, and he would do his best to provide it.

As soon as snow had finished eating he stood to quickly and nearly toppled to the ground if it wernt for Matt grabbing his arm. "don't fall over!"

"Careful!" Mello looked on with concern beffore gathering the dishes and piling them neatly.

"Hey Snow? Umm... I'm going to go out today. I'll be back later. There's something I need to do so we don't have to intrude on you anymore. Is that alright? Matt can keep you company."

"alright... Please be careful..." snows voice was almost a whisper. He let Matt guide him to his room and lay him down in bed, sitting down on the hard matrice.

"mells think you could fill a hot water bottle before you go?" Matt called out, wanting to warm frozen skin.

"Yeah, no problem!" Mello started the dishes and cleaned them as quickly as he could manage. He found his jacket and put it on. He didn't forget the hot water bottle and prepared one, taking a few minutes for the hot water and pouring it inside. He brought this to Matt and Snow.

"I'll try not take too long. I'll return earlier only if things don't look good."

Snow, not thinking of himself as usual, quickly took off his big, thick, warm hoody and pulled it down over mellos head. "it's raining." he explained, "don't get cold." the gesture Made even matt smile. He looked like he could pass away at a moments notice, and he was worried about the blond getting a chill.

"I'll be fine, I promise." Mello hugged his new friend and even gave a very short peck on the cheek before parting.

"I'll try be back before supper. If I'm not, then I'll be back a little later." He smiled kindly and walked to the door and opened it before exiting; he had a destination in mind. He seen a community center during a scouting trip. That seemed as good a place as any.

Matt watched over snow for a few long moments before giving a much wider smile and trying to settle him back into bed. "how about some tv?"

While Matt tended to Snow, Mello was having little success at the community center. As a street kid, they had already looked down on him as being no more than a no-good hoodlum. Even with his much greater and proven intelligence, they still turned him down. Even defending Snow didn't get him into their good graces. He left 2 hours later frustrated and began his search anew.

Matt was trying to get a good signal on the tv for much of the time, snow seemed to like whatever he put on, but it was hard to see anything through the fuzz of static. He sighed and opened the tv cabinet below, finding much to his surprise not a video player but an old, dusty nintendo 64.

"you have video games!" Matt chirped but a quick look at the console told him it hadent been used in awhile, and chances are that it was because it was broken.

"I did have games..." breathed the elder tiredly.

"It was... donated... but I didn't think it would work..." He broke into a short coughing fit and panted as he recovered.

"I can fix it for you!" Matt grinned widely, finally! Something he was good at! "do you have anything I can pull apart for wires? I mean... A radio or something?" the whole house was filled with half functioning things. Even snows beloved kitchen had a jug that boiled so slowly it wasent funny and his microwave hadent been used since it shot sparks at him.

"I'm sure there's something..." he whispered with a small smile. It was refreshing to see the youth animated in a way he's never seen before. Calm, intelligent eyes followed Matt as much as his position allowed.

"I'll get it working and we can play Pokemon!" Matt pulled off the shell and immediately noticed the problem, and it was an easy one to fix. Just a few wired damaged in a short circuit at some point. They would be easily replaced. He got to his feet and looked around the room, spotting an old radio "how bout that?"

"I don't li-" He coughed again and shuddered.

"S-sorry... I don't listen to the radio..." he said quietly, still watching the redhead work in awe.

"okay." matt took that and ripped it apart to, quickly gathering the wires he needed and fixing the game, plugging it in to the tv and the wall to test out. The light came on straight away and the tv lit up in a familiar logo. "easy fix." he smiled to himself.

Red eyes squinted as the bright lights hit his sensitive eyes in the dark space. He felt for his shades with shaky hands.

"Sorry again... I'm not used to bright light..." he said quietly.

"hey it's okay." Matt handed him a controller and his sunglasses. "let's play Pokemon stadium okay? "

"Okay..." He kept the controller on his stomach, not having the strength to hold it up. He vaguely had an understanding of this game and knew Matt was more knowledgeable than he was. He smiled weakly though.

"May the best man win..." he whispered with a smile.

"I hope not." Matt smirked. By the time mello got back they where both fast asleep, controllers still in hand and abby nestled between them. The final score was 3 to 2, and Matt had never came so close to losing in his entire life. That, however, was what made it exciting.

Mello however looked worse for wear. He had a seizure on the way back and his currently disgruntled state told of the ignorance shown because of his status. He was very tired, but stripped and changed before going to bed, sleeping before he was all the way down.

Matt was still asleep when snow got up, padding into the lounge room to find mello on the verge of having another. He quickly got to the boys, rolling him onto his side and shielding his head. "your epeleptic?" he whispered quietly, trying to comfort the boy while gentily stroking his cheek

Mello shuddered and shook, thrashing uncontrollably as the worst of the seizure made its course. He groaned and whined before he went still, panting heavily and shuddering lightly.

"you should have told me." he whispered as the boy came back to reality. "I have some medicine that might help. Do you want some orange juice with it?"

Mello nodded slowly, looking unfocused.

"I... I didn't want... to burden you..." panted Mello, looking shamed.

"shh, its no trouble." snow slowly got to his feet and walked back into his room, taking out some tablets and then headed for the kitchen for the juice.

"here, don't worry there only sleeping pills, but they are useful for helping you recover from seizures... So you don't wake up feeling awful tomorrow." he explained. "I take them a lot, they work well."

"Th-thanks..." Mello smiled weakly and finished catching his breath, feeling very tired now. All he wanted now was sleep. He could tell them about his efforts in the morning.

Snow helped the boy sit up and take the pill before tucking him in again. "I will make Matt something for tea and then send him to bed with you alright?" he spoke more gentily then he usually did, knowing the boy more then likely had a headache. "do you want something to? The tablet will probably make you every tired very quickly but if you are hungry I can make toast."

"N-no thanks... I want to sleep..." Mello sighed and curled on his side, taking a deep breath and falling back into a much welcomed sleep that quickly deepened.

"alright." snow rubbed the boys arm soothingly until he was out, mostly so he could keep an eye on the boy. After a while though he got up, made tea for himself and Matt then sent the redhead back to sleep himself. By the time he got to bed he was exhausted, but he didn't spend all night coughing this time and had a good nights rest for the first time in a week.

The following morning, Mello woke feeling much better, so much so that he almost didn't want to wake and fought to stay sleep. Only when his mind started ticking over did he wake and looked to Snow's room.

As usual it was the lack if noise that was worrying, though this morning snow was actually in a relatively good condition. The day before being looked after and aloud to sleep when he normally would have had to force himself to stay awake did him wonders. The only reason snow had survived so long was how quickly he could bounce back when taken care of properly, and he used to be able to do that himself though now it was becoming impossible.

The blond crawled out and got the number of pills Snow needed and filled a tall glass so he could take them with ease. He wanted tp give the needle today and prepared a new syringe for Snow.

The albino was sleeping peacefully for once and looked much better then mello had seen him the past few days, and that was saying something because if what they suspected was true the main reason snow deteriorated so quickly throughout the day was that the medicine was wareing off before he could pump it back into his system. By that theory he should be looking worse by now, though it could also be that the sleep itself was playing a part.

After some time had passed, Mello gently roused Snow from sleep.

"Hey..." he whispered, shaking gently.

"Good morning," he whispered with a smile, giving a gentle hug.

Snow smiled and pet the blonds hair. "do you feel better?" he asked, the first words out of his mouth once again being for someone other then himself.

"I'm alright. You sound a lot better." Mello smiled kindly then noted the controllers.

"I see that you got a demonstration of my friend's abilities, then? Was he better than you expected?"

Snow smiled, "I almost beat him..." he held out his arm for mello when he sore the needle in hand. "he fixed it with a radio." which was enough to impress him for sure.

"Matt knows his way around most technologies. I'm saving to get him a laptop and see what he can really do with it." Mello smiled and prepped Snow's arm, giving the injection carefully.

"It was always Matt's strong point," he added.

"I can see that." snow didn't even flinch at the needle going in though mello accidentally collapsed the vein, which was easy enough to do to the already frail man. "don't worry about that..." he sighed, "I do it every second day..."

"I'll try again."Mello was careful and got it right, breathing a sigh of relief.

Snows arm was almost immediately bruised, but it always was, "thank you." he smiled gratefully

"No problem." Mello smiled and offered the glass and handed him his pills.

"Things didn't go so well yesterday. I tried to get help at one of the community centers, but they turned me down flat, even if I have more than enough intelligence to take care of myself and my friend, they wouldn't help me. It was frustrating me to no end..."

Snow nodded slowly, "I know how that feels..." the albino frowned slightly. "I with I sisnt have to ask this, but I need a little bit of help today."

"What is it you need help with?" The blond looked at the elder curiously, ready to help, but unsure of what the details were.

"there is an old woman who lives in the house up the outside stairs above this one." he gave another smile then, she is lovely, but blind as a batt." even the people who where kind to snow where only kind because they couldn't see him. "I make her a pumpkin pie and give it to her every monday, and she is knitting me a new rug to go over the floor and a scarf in return. Can you get take it up to her? I don't think it would be a good idea for me to go up those outside stairs when it's raining like it is today... You can take an umbrella of coarse!"

"Yeah, sure!" Mello smiled and left the room, wanting Matt to go with him today if he was feeling up for it.

"Hey Matty..." he whispered, shaking his friend gently.

Matt pulled the blankets tighter around himself and burried his face in the pillow. "no!" he huffed, way to comfortable to move.

"Matt, did you want to help me with an errand? Snow wants me to deliver pie to the lady upstairs. She's blind, but he would like us to deliver it to her today. Did you want to help me out?"

Matt huffed. "no, but I will..." he still didn't want to pry himself out of the blanket but ever so slowly he did and got to his feet. "can't promise I won't eat the pie though."

"This is for an elderly woman, Matt. I don't think she would appreciate having a large chunk of pie going missing on her now. If she invited us to have a piece, then we can, but ONLY one, alright?"

"okay but if she is blind she wont know anythings missing!" Matt grinned mischievously. Anything snow made had to be perfect! "let's go!"

"Matt..." Mello looked at his friend sternly.

"We're not going to take any pie from her unless invited to. Understood?" Even if he'd let himself be a little more open, he knew who was in charge between them.

"fine!" Matt whined but got up, walking to the fridge and finding the pie wrapped in plastic and waiting. "oh it looks good! Why is he giving her a pie anyway?"

"He says he gives her one every week. I guess it's a kind gesture and something he enjoys doing." Mello shrugged and took the pie from the fridge and set it on the table before getting his jacket.

"Use Snow's sweater. You need it more than me."

"okay." Matt pulled on the thick clothing and put the white hood over his head with a grin. "do I look like him?"

"If you had much paler skin, longer hair and red eyes... I guess you could be," he replied teasingly. He took the pie and looked out at the new rain that was starting to fall.

"He said there's an umbrella we can use. Let's take it and make it quick."

Matt nodded and pet Abby on there way out. "look after snow alright?" he smiled and she yawned and went back to sleep. The redhead took the umbrella by the door, unfolding it and walking out into the rain. It was dark even though it was creeping up on 10am and it was even slightly flooded thanks to days of non stop rain.

The pair made it around to the stairs the would lead them to the level above this one, being careful not to slip and lose the pie-or their lives-in the process.

The women came to the door at the noise and opened it up. "hello?" she asked, looking more frightening then Matt had pictures with her thick black sunglasses, slicked back grey hair and Cain with a huge snakes head on top. "err... We brought you a pie?"

"Yeah, Snow needed the favor and we had volunteered," said Mello with a smile though he knew she wouldn't see it.

"He told us that you get one from him every week. I hope you don't mind us," he added.

"no no!" the creepy old woman smiled and led them in, "I have finished that rug he wanted, oh I am sure it is lovely!" inside her house was even more frightening, dead stuffed animals littering the entire house dispite her inability to see them. Every pet she ever owned she stuffed and put on top of shelves and beside her lounge and even her dead bird was perched on the tv which she loved to listen to. There was one live cat that came and rubbed against there legs as they walked, but it was just as frightening, jet black with one eye torn out and part of its ear torn off...

"You have an interesting collection in here," said Mello, shaking off a wave of sickness and fear. He looked to the area to where he assumed the rug was being made. Despite the creepiness of this apartment, at least this one contrasted against the room and even appeared rather nice, if a little blotched.

"I don't know what color it is." she smiled "but it's three layers thick, so it should be perfect."

Matt was so terrified he froze in place at the door. It seemed like every creepy dead eyed cat, dog, bird and even a ferret was looking through his soul.

"I'm sure he'd love it," he said politely.

"We should be going though. We have errands to run and we don't want to be in your way any more." He took the rug and backed himself to the door.

"alright take care boys." she took her pie and shuffled out of the room, letting Matt make a run for the door. He almost slipped on the stairs but he didn't stop until he was back at the albinos door.

Mello was no better and made a quick trip, going to the door and letting himself inside.

"Creepy place, much?" he said at last, shuddering at the images and not so much at the cold.

"what the hell was that!" Matt yelped, looking to see snow shuffling about the kitchen. "what the hell snow!"

"hrm?" the albino replied, looking to the door to see the now dripping wet boys. "did you lose the umbrella?"

"That old lady's place had dead animals everywhere!" exclaimed the blond, shuddering again in fear and disgust. He held out the rug though and shuddered again.

"oh that, they are her pets. Whenever one dies she has them stuffed so they never leave her." snow shrugged, "I suppose there her friends."

Matt's eyes widened as he pictures snow sitting stuffed on the couch next to them and let out a soft yelping sound. "you don't stuff your friends!"

"I'm sure he means just she does... but that's still freaky as hell..." Mello removed his jacket and sat on the bed, trying to clear the images out.

Matt quickly inched away from mello, the redheads thoughts clearly displaying on his face. He didn't want to be stuffed and put ontop of the tv or bed or next to the lounge.

"Matt... Don't let it bother you. I'm not going to stuff anyone cause that's just creepy... I'm still trying to forget what I saw in there... ew..."

"I don't want to be stuffed." Matt shuddered, "I want to be buried back in England..."

"So do I, and we probably will be in the end, but don't worry yourself. We're a team, alright?" He pulled Matt into a comforting hug.

"It's alright."

Matt pulled a face that said he was still picturing mello stuffing him slowly calmed himself down and huddled back in close. Atleast they had somewhere warm and safe to stay again.

The pair didn't part, just taking comfort in each other until each had calmed down.


End file.
